Asian Games 2023: India overcome Iran to clinch gold medal in controversial men's kabaddi final

The India men’s kabaddi team clinched gold medal at the 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou after beating Iran in dramatic circumstances in the final on Saturday. India beat Iran with a score of 33-29 in a final that was temporarily suspended over scoring confusion. Also read: Why was India vs Iran in men's kabaddi suspended? The two teams battled neck-to-neck in the final, with the score at 28-28 with five minutes to go in the contest. However, there was a controversy when India captain Pawan Sehrawat went for a do-or-die raid. Sehrawat went into the lobby, which is out of bounds, without a touch. However, four Iranian defenders, including Amirhossein Bastami hurried towards the Indian skipper in order to push him out. That is when the controversy erupted. The problem here was if Sehrawat had been tackled successfully, and if it was the new rule or the old rule that was applied. The new rule suggests that Sehrawat was out of bounds. On the contrary, the old rule would deem that Sehrawat along with the four other Iranian players would be out. In such a case, India would get four points compared to Iran’s one. The confusion among the officials resulted in both Indian and Iranian players coming onto the court and protesting over the decision. The issue was finally resolved after minutes of delay, with the officials declaring the verdict in favour of India, who got those four points to seal the win. On Sunday, Iran looked a better outfit early on, having led the match 10-6. However, the Indians inflicted two all outs on Iran and led the score at 17-13 at half time. In the second half, India had rushed towards a lead of 24-19, before Iran were back in it again at 25-25. However, it was an eventual Super 10 from Sehrawat that helped India emerge victorious.